Company’s pioneering work in equipment finance has expanded to other lending sectors, through many economic cycles

HIGHWOOD, IL, August 8, 2023 – Twenty five years ago, Robert Boehm and his sons Brett and
Adam founded TBF Financial (TBF) with the goal of pioneering commercial debt buying in the
equipment leasing industry. The company succeeded and now equipment finance businesses
routinely sell off all or a portion of their distressed accounts after charge-off.

“Debt buying was mostly unheard of in the commercial finance industry before TBF launched in
1998,” said Brett Boehm, now CEO of the company. “Our principals believed we could buy
charged-off equipment leases for prices that would be attractive to sellers yet also provide TBF
with a margin of profit.”

This business model worked, and today TBF customers not only include equipment finance
companies and banks but also fintechs, online small business lenders and merchant cash
advance (MCA) businesses.

“Debt buying and selling has become an established practice in commercial finance,” Boehm
explained.

Headquartered on Chicago’s North Shore, TBF acquires commercial debt from finance
businesses across the nation. The company has managed commercial debt through every
economic cycle over the past 25 years, including previous inflationary markets, he noted.

How It Works

TBF buys pools of non-performing commercial accounts after they have been worked internally
and reached the charge-off stage. These accounts include loans, equipment leases, lines of
credit, MCAs and commercial credit cards. They may have personal guarantees or no personal
guarantees, be secured or unsecured, pre-agency or post-agency, or pre-litigation and/or
reduced to judgment.

Boehm said the company offers competitive pricing that is based on decades of historical data
and the assets’ fair market value. “We always have cash on hand to close the deal
immediately,” he added.

For sellers, the key benefit is immediate cash at closing but that’s not the only consideration.
Selling off all or a portion of commercial debt allows collections teams to focus on accounts
earlier in the delinquency cycle when recoveries are more likely. It also reduces the risk of
lower payoffs in the future, Boehm said.

What happens to accounts post-sale? TBF provides assurances that the sellers’ debtors will be
treated fairly and respectfully.

“We work professionally with debtors over time to collect as much as possible. Our hope is that
the debtor will someday be in a better position to do business again with the seller as a
customer in good standing. We also maintain accounts and do not resell them, which enables
sellers to repurchase an account should any significant changes occur post-sale,” Boehm said.

For more information, please visit tbfgroup.com.